Chris Allen walked along the beaches of Lake Michigan in Port Washington, looking for a flat stone and a piece of driftwood to make a spear. Yes, it was going to be used for hunting — but not in the traditional sense.
It was going to be used to hunt opposing teams.
After every game, Allen hands out his ‘Tip of the Spear” MVP award — a literal spear. The player who receives it writes her name on a ribbon with the color corresponding to the team that they played, and ties it around the spear. If the team loses, the ribbon is black.
This spear isn’t the only thing head coach Chris Allen has built for Marquette women’s soccer.
He has played the lead role in crafting the culture of the team.
Although only two years into his first Division I coaching position, he knows his approach to leading like he knows his playbook.
“They don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care,” Allen said about his players.
“If we put our focus into them as a person, them as a student, then them as a player, they’re going to run through the wall for you.”
That has been Allen’s goal since he arrived at Marquette, but recently, it has become clearer to the public.
The mantra that accompanies every team social media posts is, “More Than A Program, An Experience.” It started being used in the spring after the squad’s trip to Italy.
Sharper. Faster. Stronger. Elise Krone is the Tip of the Spear from yesterday’s game against Kansas City.
More than a Program, An Experience #WeAreMarquette pic.twitter.com/GoBhYKWdoN
— MARQUETTE Soccer (@MarquetteWSOC) September 6, 2025
Allen created this through the same method he has used to grow every facet of his team: by listening to his players.
“We want to be a player-up program and not a coach-down kind of program,” Allen said. “[The player’s] words are what drives our culture. Their words were our core values when they talked about what they wanted this experience to be.”
A leadership council of players was established immediately after Allen arrived last spring to help structure the team’s values. The group this season, which is elected by the players, is comprised of Clare Shea, Molly Keiper, Elise Krone and Emily Fix.
Along with this quartet, Allen further laid the foundation of his team’s DNA through culture classes. Weekly during the offseason, but more irregularly in-season, the group will have these classes to discuss and form ideas on what they want the team to look like.
During these, Allen shows videos, quotes and relates conversations back to what the team is going through at the moment. The team even began reading a book about the winningest team in professional rugby.
“It’s all the little things that matter,” junior forward Emily Fix said. “You’re not gonna one day snap your fingers and become a championship team. It’s about all these building blocks that go into it.”
This also stands true for the team’s on-the-pitch play.
At the beginning of every practice, the team will decide on a focus for the day. Last Wednesday it was “Winning the 18,” as in playing aggressively inside the box, offensively or defensively.
This is an example of a deliberate area of growth that Fix saw between the team’s previous coach, Frank Pelaez, and Allen.
“You can see a lot more intentionality with what we’re doing,” Fix said. “[Allen] made a lot of intentional decisions and us as a team have decided to have certain values that we can see on field: performance and success.”
Last year, the team’s final record was 6-11-3 — tied for the second-least amount of wins in program history.
On top of that, the team didn’t find victory until its fifth game of the season. The furthest the program has had to fight into a season to find a win since its 1993 inaugural one.
Despite the early turbulence, there’s still a great deal of confidence in the system and culture from the players.
“Last year we talked — it was the words. And this year is the belief,” junior midfielder Kiley McMinn said.
“From last year’s team to this year’s team, we hung in there. And [now] we are bringing the belief, we are scoring goals, but we just need to keep bringing it so we can keep finishing the wins.”
The Golden Eagles started this season with three wins, the best fall regular season start since 2012, but have gone 1-3 since.
Though, in the face of wins or loses, Allen still focuses on the players’ well-being.
“I would like to provide an experience that I would want my daughters to be a part of,” Allen said. “It’s more about the transformative experience that we are hoping to provide these players so that they become the best versions of themselves. They become better spouses, better employees, better bosses, better partners — all those types of things.”
Every time the team travels for a game, the players are given something to remember besides simply what happens on the pitch.
When the Golden Eagles traveled to play Georgetown, they visited the Washington Mall. Against Colorado, it was an adventure to Breckenridge. Versus St. Thomas, the crew went to a lake and went paddle boarding.
Would the teams’ chemistry be the same without the culture set by Allen?
“Honestly, no,” McMinn answered. “Whether it’s on the field or off the field, it makes us who we are. Culture helps us on the field and it helps everyone bring out the best in everyone.”
A decade prior to coaching soccer, Allen was a high school biology teacher in St. Louis, Missouri.
He has always been keen on bringing things to life — a program and a spear alike.
This story was written by Benjamin Hanson. He can be reached at benjamin.hanson@marquette.edu or on Twitter/X @benhansonMU.